This study published today by the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that a 10% increase in the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit has a dramatic impact on the number of non-drug-related suicides among men and women without college degrees. Read this article about the study.
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The Second Circuit today decided a case involving payday lending and forced arbitration, ruling for the plaintiffs on two important issues. In Gingras v. Think Finance, Vermont residents who claim that the payday loans violate Vermont usury and consumer protection laws as well as federal laws including the RICO statute sued the operators of an […]
The New York Times today has a lengthy piece about treatment of female employees at Sterling, Kay, and Jared Jewelers — stores owned by the same company. The heart of the article is about pay inequity, and pervasive and extreme sexual harassment. But the article also describes the role of the forced arbitration and non-disclosure […]
How can you protect your privacy online? A New York Times article today suggests that you can't. People concerned about privacy often try to be “careful” online. They stay off social media, or if they’re on it, they post cautiously. They don’t share information about their religious beliefs, personal life, health status or political views. […]
Take a good look at this easy-to-read, informative essay by law prof Heidi Li Feldman in the Harvard Law Review blog. In Why the Latest Ruling in the Sandy Hook Shooting Litigation Matters, Feldman explains that, among other things, the Connecticut Supreme Court's recent decision in Soto v. Bushmaster Firearms (concerning the prospect of liability for […]
The New York Times has a lengthy article on Mick Mulvaney's tenure as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This account of Mulvaney’s tenure is based on interviews with more than 60 current or former bureau employees, current and former Mulvaney aides, consumer advocates and financial-industry executives and lobbyists, as well as hundreds […]
Avant, LLC, an online lending company, has agreed to settle the Federal Trade Commission’s charges that it engaged in deceptive and unfair loan servicing practices, including imposing unauthorized charges on consumers’ accounts and unlawfully requiring consumers to consent to automatic payments from their bank accounts. According to the FTC’s complaint, Avant offers unsecured installment loans […]
Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Deb Fischer (R-NE) have introduced a bill to prohibit large online platforms from using deceptive user interfaces, known as “dark patterns,” to trick consumers into handing over their personal data. Dark patterns refers to online interfaces in websites and apps designed to intentionally manipulate users into taking actions they would […]
Twelve corporate and four individual defendants have settled Federal Trade Commission charges that they deceptively marketed “cognitive improvement” supplements using sham news websites containing false and unsubstantiated efficacy claims, references to non-existent clinical studies, and fraudulent consumer and celebrity endorsements. The FTC also alleged that the defendants used affiliate marketers to make deceptive claims about […]
Myriam Gilles and Gary Friedman have written Rediscovering the Issue Class in Mass Tort MDLs. Here's the abstract: For the past twenty-plus years, MDL transferee judges have essentially regarded the class device as unavailable as they struggle to organize masses of tort actions sent their way by the JPML. Even the badges and incidents of […]